Prior art paper advance mechanisms usually include a plurality of friction rollers driven by a stepping motor or solenoid. One-way clutches or ratchets are also often used. Typically, the rollers are arranged to receive the paper in pinching engagement and incremental movement of the paper is then provided by the stepping motor or solenoid via the one-way clutches or ratchets. Such systems are simply too large and expensive to incorporate into a hand-held calculator.